NASA | Simulations Uncover 'Flashy' Secrets of Merging Black Holes

According to Einstein, whenever massive objects interact, they produce gravitational waves -- distortions in the very fabric of space and time -- that ripple outward across the universe at the speed of light. While astronomers have found indirect evidence of these disturbances, the waves have so far eluded direct detection. Ground-based observatories designed to find them are on the verge of achieving greater sensitivities, and many scientists think that this discovery is just a few years away.

Catching gravitational waves from some of the strongest sources -- colliding black holes with millions of times the sun's mass -- will take a little longer. These waves undulate so slowly that they won't be detectable by ground-based facilities. Instead, scientists will need much larger space-based instruments, such as the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, which was endorsed as a high-priority future project by the astronomical community.

A team that includes astrophysicists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., is looking forward to that day by using computational models to explore the mergers of supersized black holes. Their most recent work investigates what kind of "flash" might be seen by telescopes when astronomers ultimately find gravitational signals from such an event.

To explore the problem, a team led by Bruno Giacomazzo at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and including Baker developed computer simulations that for the first time show what happens in the magnetized gas (also called a plasma) in the last stages of a black hole merger.

In the turbulent environment near the merging black holes, the magnetic field intensifies as it becomes twisted and compressed. The team suggests that running the simulation for additional orbits would result in even greater amplification.

The most interesting outcome of the magnetic simulation is the development of a funnel-like structure -- a cleared-out zone that extends up out of the accretion disk near the merged black hole.

The most important aspect of the study is the brightness of the merger's flash. The team finds that the magnetic model produces beamed emission that is some 10,000 times brighter than those seen in previous studies, which took the simplifying step of ignoring plasma effects in the merging disks.

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[MindLessWiz]

Wonderful! It's very interesting to see the supercomputer simulations. I hope we can somehow observe something similar in the future.

Beats the silly but cool artist impressions of these collisions.

[MrKalKine]

Wow. That's scary !! Cool both black holes merged one big hole. Question how does those black hole become magnetic ??

[Seba]

antimatter is material composed of antiparticles, which have the same mass as particles of ordinary matter but have opposite charge and quantum spin. It can be produced by black hole jets, but its not what create black holes.

[JimmMyHero]

This honestly makes no sense. If Black Holes had two different dimensions. Would both of the dimensions merge or would it create an entirely new dimension. So interesting

[joeloud]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but the fact that light cannot escape has nothing to do with the "circular motion" of the black hole. Gravity is what's doing that.

And I never said that any matter or energy was created or destroyed. I was simply pointing out that they aren't magical portals. The second part of your comment kind of sounds like you also think they are portals...

[joeloud]

Yes, all very interesting stuff, but I only had 500 characters to work with and was merely explaining where the name comes from and that they weren't magic portals to Narnia.

[cramtoro]

the funny thing is that imagine that our sun is actually falling into a black hole, our life span is so short on terms of galactic proportion that civilizations could come and go, etc and we might be still falling slowly only after millions of years we would fall inside lol

[TheMarkoanton]

Black hole is not literally a hole. It is dense object. Therefore it can merge wiith another black hole just like a star can marge with another star or planet.

[KalElKryptonsFinest]

That is why we should all pay attention in science classes.

[KEVLANEW]

We can rationalize what happens in space through microcosm and macrocosm.

[joeloud]

Replies have always been sent to your inbox. If you don't want people replying to your comments, don't comment in the first place.

[blarabkom]

i think black hole doesn't grow bigger because it is just feeding from starts and other smaller black holes, but black hole grow bigger because they get together! i believe the size of black hole depend on how many small black holes stuck together :-) here we go, i have my new theory hhhh

[joeloud]

You accused me of spamming your inbox, which I wasn't. YouTube was. I was merely replying to your inane comments.

You were the one who actually marked my comments as spam, added me as a contact (yes, that info gets sent to me), and I suspect downvoted all my videos as well, based on the analytics. Exactly how any adult should react to being corrected.

[ericwashere]

Gene Rodenberry had this a long time ago

[lncgusg]

سبحان الله وبحمده
سبحان الله العظيم

[joeloud]

*facepalm*

If you're not talking about "an enormous amount of mass collapsed in on itself under its own gravity, " you're not talking about a black hole.

[JimmMyHero]

Lol it's clearly a theory because we have no idea what a black hole actually does. That's a interesting theory too

[DaRealFiberOptix]

awesome, but how stupid do they think we are. ive seen this before

[JimmMyHero]

I said "if" like "what if" as if "imagination". Why do you care so much about strangers on the internet stating only 100% true facts?

[maxystephenson]

what if black wholes were created by a little bit of anti-matter that exsit like so every one can see